Daugaard veto stands on fertilizer fee

Mar. 26, 2013

David Omdahl

Written by

Shantel Krebs

An ag-backed proposal to raise money for fertilizer research was defeated Monday, in a victory for Gov. Dennis Daugaard.

Daugaard had vetoed the proposal, saying the fertilizer inspection fee hike that paid for the research was actually a tax increase, and an unnecessary one.

Supporters fell two votes short of the total to override the veto Monday in the Senate, the final day of the 2013 South Dakota legislative session. Had the Senate successfully overridden the veto, it would have then headed to the House, where support was seen as weaker.

Had all the senators who voted for the fertilizer bill in February voted for it Monday, it would have passed easily. Instead, eight of the bill’s 30 supporters switched sides, making the vote 22-13 in favor of the fee increase. The threshold to override a veto was 24 “yes” votes.

Sen. David Omdahl, R-Sioux Falls, was one of those eight. Omdahl said he had some doubts about the bill when he voted for it previously — doubts that grew after reading Daugaard’s opposition.

“As I got to thinking about the bill and the governor’s position on it, it was a tax, and I’m a pretty anti-tax fellow,” Omdahl said.

The failed vote Monday ends the issue for at least one year. But ag groups might try to bring it back in 2014.

“Sometimes it takes several years (to pass bills),” said Sen. Shantel Krebs, R-Renner and the primary sponsor of the fertilizer bill. “There will be talk among the parties to see what kind of compromise they can come up with.”

The defeated measure would have increased the fertilizer inspection fee by 15 cents per ton, around $300,000 in revenue every year. That money would be earmarked for fertilizer research at the Agricultural Experiment Station.

“Why do we want companies from out of state ... telling us how to apply fertilizer?” Krebs said during the Senate debate. “We have very different soil here in South Dakota and we need to have our research done in our universities to provide our producers and our growers the nonbiased information that they need.”

But other senators sided with Daugaard, arguing the bill was a tax increase and represented government overreach into things that should be done by private interests.

“Why do we want government to step into the area where outside industry is already doing the job?” said Sen. Bill Van Gerpen, R-Tyndall. “I believe the research is going to continue whether we vote this up or down.”

Also on Monday, the House accepted two Daugaard vetoes over a technical question.

The governor used his line-item veto power to strike language in two bills referring to how education money should be spent, arguing that direction should come in the form of a legislative letter of intent.

Both vetoes were sustained by votes of 65-1.

After considering all three vetoes, the Legislature then adjourned for the year.